The Other Side of Prospect: A Story of Violence, Injustice, and the American City by Nicholas Dawidoff The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series continued August 26 th . Sixteen of us met to discuss this disturbing non-fiction book. The Other Side of Prospect begins with the murder of Pete Fields, a senior citizen on a residential street in New Haven and an innocent teenager named Bobby being charged with the murder and serving nine years in prison. The author describes the world of this neighborhood, called Newhallville, starting with the Black people who came to New Haven from South Carolina during the Great Migration, the good-paying jobs they were able to get at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, the properties they bought, and the community they built. The author makes a direct correlation between the drying up of those jobs and the crime and hopelessness that came to this part of town as a result.
The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series meets approximately once every six weeks at the Courtland S. Wilson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library in New Haven, CT.